


Sleepover

by orphan_account



Series: Alex’s Song Fics [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Fic itself hopefully wont feel too slow, Happy Ending, Kinda OOC because I’m new to the fandom, M/M, Slow Burn, This started out as a vent drabble collection and now it's a legit story, Unreciprocated feelings, You know what?, but also not really, but not really, how did this happen, mutual feelings, my writing is really awful in the first few chapters but it gets better I swear, vent - Freeform, we’re talking many many years slow burn, yall are being nice so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-05-28 13:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19395337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Yamaguchi Tadashi is hopelessly in love, and he’ll never know if his stoic, serious best friend returns those feelings.A little drabble loosely based around Sleepover by Hayley Kiyoko, but it’s also a vent based on an unfortunate real life circumstance I’ve found myself in.Might get a bit slice-of-lifey as well since I like writing that kind of thing. Hope you enjoy <3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the shortest chapter of the bunch, since it serves as some sort of introduction to the rest of the fic. Nonetheless, hope you’ll stick around to read the rest!

Tadashi couldn’t sleep. He twisted and turned around in his futon, in the dead of night, until his eyes fell upon Kei, sleeping peacefully mere inches away. He was in his own separate futon, one that he outgrew many years ago yet couldn’t be bothered to replace. ‘It’s funny,’ Yamaguchi smiled and thought to himself. ‘Tsukki never smiles during the day, but..’ In his sleep, Kei’s face always wore a small, relaxed smile. 

The other boy stared fondly, as much as being his best friend tore his heart to pieces. He wanted so much more but.. It was just out of reach. Just as the tip of his finger grazed the surface of being something, anything more than just being best friends, he’d slip and find himself back where he started.

‘There’s no use. I should just stop trying.’


	2. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Kei’s new friend.

Tsukishima Akiteru woke up from a nap to the sound of crying. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he stumbled out of his room and went downstairs, where he found his younger brother with the source of all the noise, a freckled boy whom he’d never seen before.

“Hey, what happened? Who’s this?” Akiteru instantly questioned Kei, who was calmly wiping away the other boy’s tears.

“This is Yamaguchi-kun. He’s a friend from school.” Kei stood up and went through a drawer as his friend tried his best to stop crying, sniffling and rubbing his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

‘Friend? I didn’t know you had friends..’ Akiteru thought, having to stop himself from chuckling to himself. It was a miracle. His quiet, standoffish brother finally made a friend.

“So was your little friend crying?” Akiteru leaned against the wall, watching his brother pull out a little white box from the drawer, and he started to put the pieces together.

He must have.. “He fell off of the swing and got hurt.” Ah. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have pushed him so hard.” Kei shrugged and got some disinfectant out, which Tadashi eyed warily.

“It’s not your fault, Tsukki! I didn’t hold on to the swing hard eno-“ Tadashi bit his lip and stopped talking when Kei carefully cleaned his knee and the blood around it. Akiteru watched, unable to hide his proud, brotherly smile. ‘Tsukki, huh? How cute..’

Kei put a bandage on Tadashi and stood up silently. The other boy got up as well, and stared at the floor for a moment. He then looked up with a warm, genuine smile. “Thanks, Tsukki.”

Akiteru could’ve sworn he caught a hint of blush on his brother as he mumbled out a “You’re welcome.”


	3. Summer Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I didn’t expect to continue this fic but here I am, enjoy.

The sun was setting and the heavy rain began to lull Kei into a sleep. The duo, along with the rest of their junior high volleyball team, had just returned from their last game of the season. They fought hard, but in the end, they had lost.

Well, Kei did, at least. Tadashi spent his time as a bench warmer, but it’s not like he minded much. He was perfectly comfortable watching and meekly cheering for his team. Mostly Kei, but he was part of the team nonetheless.

The freckled one of the duo stared out the window, daydreaming about nothing in particular when he felt a weight on his shoulder. He didn’t even need to glance to the side to know that his best friend had fallen asleep, and decided to use him as a pillow.

At first, he thought nothing of it. Tsukki would never do anything like that on purpose, so it must be an accident. He’ll just wake up, apologise and leave the bus when they get back to school. 

But if it was nothing, why did Tadashi feel so.. Strange?

He tried to describe the feeling to himself. Before now, he never really thought much about how he saw Tsukki. He was his best friend, and that was that. Short and simple. But now, as he stared out the window with his ‘best friend’ sleeping on his shoulder, he felt like he wanted something more. What exactly? He wasn’t sure. 

Before he could put more thought into it, the bus came to an abrupt halt.

“We’re here!” Their coach called out, getting up and walking down the aisle to get off of the bus. Their teammates soon followed suit, yawning and eager to get home. Tsukishima was amongst them. As he sat upright again, he mumbled a tired “Sorry.” to Tadashi before standing up. Tadashi himself mumbled an “It’s alright.” hesitantly followed suit, and they got off the bus without another word.

Why did it have to end? A part of Tadashi wished that moment would last forever. The calm, quiet bus. The pattering of rain on the window. Kei’s head on his shoulder. That last thought ran through his head again and again, yet he couldn’t explain why.

The trip home was uneventful. Kei and Tadashi walked down the street together in silence, listening to Kei’s music as he played it quietly enough for only themselves to hear. Eventually, they parted ways, and Tadashi waved somewhat longingly at Kei as the latter waved back and slipped on his headphones.


	4. Focus

Tadashi tried his best to focus on his homework, he really did. However, he couldn’t get Kei out of his head. The boy longed to talk to someone, anyone about this, to get it off of his chest. To find an explanation. To finally rest his mind.

Reaching across the desk, he carefully took his phone in his hands. It was covered in cracks, but he couldn’t help it being more than a little clumsy sometimes. Oftentimes. Most times. Whatever.

Glancing at his homework for a brief moment, he turned his attention back to his phone as he scrolled through his contacts. He usually went to Kei for help and advice, but just this once, he couldn’t let him know.

“Come on, who could I talk do? Mom? Dad? No, I don’t know if this is bad, so who knows if they’ll get angry at me? Um.. I don’t really talk to anyone else..”

His eyes landed on the name right above Kei’s.

* * *

Akiteru sighed, eyeing the mountain of college work sitting on his desk. He genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if the poor hunk of wood snapped under all the weight.

As he sat on his bed and slaved away at yet another project, he came to an abrupt halt when he realised his groupmates hadn’t finished their parts yet. This assignment was due in less than a day.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily. The blonde then proceeded to think of excuses or explanations to give their professor.

“Watanabe has work.” That’s a lie, she was a living bundle of anxiety, too afraid to communicate with the group.

“Tomura’s sick.” She isn’t, unless you count being a freeloader as a sickness.

“Hamada has family issues.” Akiteru raised his brows, considering it. He could probably get away with that, after all-

His train of thought was cut off by his ringtone. He looked a bit surprised at the name he saw, but picked up nonetheless.

“Hey, Tadashi-kun, do you need something?” It was strange for his brother’s friend to call him nowadays, the young boy was unusually quiet for his age and only ever called to ask if Kei was home on the weekends. He scratched his chin, thinking of all the reasons Tadashi could possibly have for calling so suddenly.

“Uh… You could say that. I hope I’m not interrupting anything…” Tadashi curled up in his desk chair, with his knees to his chest.

“Of course not!” Akiteru lied through his teeth, putting aside his laptop.

“Well, in that case…” Tadashi took a deep breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapters!!! I’m trying to make some of them longer but I’m new to writing and a bit shy when it comes to my works so I hope you all don’t mind ^ ^’
> 
> Also! My school ends a bit late so I won’t be starting summer till the 12th or so, so hang in there!


	5. Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sad, so that means more vent fic!! Hope you guys enjoy, and thanks for the support I’ve gotten so far :0

“I.. I…” Tadashi felt a lump in his throat, and he didn’t quite know what to say, or how to say it.

“It’s okay, take your time.” Akiteru leaned back, already guessing that Tadashi was nervous. About what, he’d soon find out.

“I have these.. Feelings… And I don’t know why, or if they’re good or bad, or if I should stop myself from feeling them, or..” Tadashi started to ramble through the phone, picking up the pace and he started to panic oh god what if everyone starts hating me and they get me arrested because they hate me so much I can’t go to prison-

“Tadashi… Tadashi!” Akiteru pulled him back to reality, and the younger boy held his tongue for just a moment.

“Look, you’re a good kid, and you’re like a little brother to me. I’m sure whatever you’re feeling is alright, and I won’t think any differently about-“ Before he could finish, Akiteru heard sniffling over the line.

“Don’t cry! Come on, lay it on me, I can take it. It’ll be like.. Ripping off a band-aid.” Akiteru smiled reassuringly, as if Tadashi could see his face all those miles away. Tadashi himself could almost hear the familiar, brotherly smile in his voice.

“But.. I don’t really know what to call it…” Tadashi hesitated and wiped his tears. He considered hanging up and pretending this conversation never happened. It’d be alright, he supposed he’d just have to take it to the grave or something.. No big deal.

Akiteru went silent in thought, racking his brain for any way to give Tadashi a hand. “Then… Describe the way you feel. Maybe I can help you find out what to call it.”

Akiteru heard a deep breath from the other end of the line. He’s gonna start rambling isn’t he-

“So when I’m around um.. SOMEONE I feel all nervous even though I never felt like that before but it’s not like the ‘I’m scared’ nervous.. Well kind of but not really because I just want to spend more time with them and maybe like… Hold their hand… And they slept on my shoulder that one time but I kind of wanted more but I don't really know what more is? I guess I just wanted to give them a big hug, and maybe ki- wait FORGET I SAID THAT IT’S EMBARRASS-“ Tadashi’s seemingly endless tangent was cut off by a laugh on the other end, and his face paled. “Are you.. Laughing?

Akiteru chucked on his bed, trying to hide it from Tadashi on the other end but doing an awful job of it. “Tadashi, you got your first crush!”

“A.. Crush..?” Tadashi started to sweat. A tingly, hot sensation had mildly taken over his face, but of all places, his ears felt like they were on fire. Another day in the life of Yamaguchi Tadashi.

“Yup! So tell me, who is this someone? Is it a girl in your class? Maybe your team manager?” Akiteru said teasingly, much to Tadashi’s embarrassment.

“Ah, well.. I can’t tell you… Who I have a crush on.” Tadashi stared at the floor, practically trembling in fear.

Akiteru still had a cheeky grin on his face, more than willing to keep teasing the boy. “Why’s that?”

“It’s.. Not.. A girl.”

“Oh.”

Tadashi hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to make the chapter update bursts correspond with morse code letters to spell something out, but honestly the topic this vent fic is based on is getting so out of hand that I don't think I have the mental capability to plan something like that and execute it properly. I'm too busy breaking out into tears and all.
> 
> Unfortunately, whilst I have a general plan for the plot of this fic, I write most of these chapters on a whim to vent about my (ever worsening) irl circumstances. I hope you understand, and hopefully that answers any questions about my sporadic update schedule and awful writing as well.
> 
> To make up for this, I'll spend a bit of time spell checking some older chapters and making sure they don't get to repetitive. My vent writing is.. Sloppy, to say the least.


	6. Knock On My Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back to write more, my brain said “Listen to the song you’re writing about goddammit” but my heart said “TWICE” so here we are! I’m gonna be dancing so much while I write this-
> 
> It took me a while to think of a chapter title, but because of the content I decided to go with a title inspired by Knock Knock because um. It's obvious by like. The second paragraph.
> 
> I'm still really sad from yesterday, but it's okay!! I'll be fine!! I totally won't die from the gay just yet okay maybe I will but I'll try to finish this fic before it happens

Panicking, Yamaguchi threw his phone across the room a little too hard, and it smacked against the wall with a sickening crack before falling onto his bed. His mind started to race, thinking of ways to avoid Akiteru when he came back for summer, or maybe even run away and disappear off the face of the earth. Surely he could live off of the streets.. For a moment, he considered living in a McDonalds dumpsters and eating everyone’s abandoned, soggy fries. That didn’t seem too bad, actually… ‘I mean, I kind of already do that for Tsukki anyways..’ Dammit, he thought about Tsukki again. He looked across the room at his mirror, and his flushed reflection stared back.

“Is everything okay up there?” A concerned call from his grandma snapped him out of it, and he scrambled to the door, opening it just a bit to hide his blushing face. There was no way she could see it, what if she started asking questions? What if she already knew? Did he talk too loudly on the phone with Akiteru? Could she guess? Tsukki was pretty much the only person he spent time with anyways..

“Yeah! I, uh.. I dropped something from my bookshelf, it’s okay, really!” Tadashi lied through his teeth, and his grandma sighed, opening the door further before he had time to react, let alone stop her.

“Be more careful next time! It could’ve landed on your little head, and we don’t want you getting hurt, do we?” She leaned down to ruffle his hair, but she soon noticed his red face and noticed how warm he seemed.

“Oh dear…”

“Oh dear..?” Tadashi repeated after his grandma and tilted his head, a little confused but afraid. ‘Don’t tell me she’s found out..! What if she tells my parents?!’ He freaked out a little internally, but kept his confused expression on the best he could.

“You’re so warm, my boy!” She frowned and stood up straight again. “You must have a fever.. Well, I can’t have you going to school like this, so I suppose you’ll have to stay home tomorrow!”

“No, I’m fine, really!” Tadashi tried to reassure dear old grandma, following her down the hallway.

“Is there another reason you’re burning up then?” She stopped at a big, old-fashioned phone, and started to punch in a familiar looking number. Familiar to Tadashi, of course, who fell ill a little too often for his own good.

“I.. Uh…” Tadashi fidgeted a bit. He couldn’t just tell her about his crush on his best friend, how would she react? Just when that crossed his mind, he lost focus and began to think of Kei again.

“Hello, Dr. Tsumiki? Yes, my poor little grandson’s fallen ill again.. May we come in for an appointment tomorrow? Of course noon is alright!” His grandma looked away from him for a moment, more focused on her conversation with the nice doctor down the road that the Yamaguchi family’s grown all too familiar with.

Meanwhile, Tadashi was staring into space, lost in thought. Tsukki, the boy he could count on for anything and everything. His cool, nonchalant forefront hiding how much he really cared. (For Yamaguchi, anyways.) How his head seemed to fit so naturally Tadashi’s shoulder, and how comfortable Tadashi himself felt in that moment… He started to burn up again. Then he felt a hand touch his forehead.

“Oh my, he’s gotten even warmer, and he looks so red! Do you think I should brew some ginseng tea for him?”

Tadashi gulped, and reconsidered living in that McDonalds dumpster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For your information, ginseng is VERY bitter and has an awful aftertaste no matter how much honey you add to it... I, too, would consider living off of leftovers in a McDonald’s dumpster over drinking ginseng tea. I seriously can’t believe what’s probably the longest paragraph thus far in this fic is about living in a dumpster and eating soggy fries tbh,,
> 
> I hope that chapter was okay!! I’m really trying my best to get better, longer chapters out, but I’m pretty awful at writing because art is my forteé and writing just… Isn’t. That isn’t gonna stop me from trying, though!
> 
> I hope you guys see a big quality difference between chapters, because that means my extensive fanfic reading aka. 'research' and 'studying' (and totally not procrastination) works and is totally justified!!
> 
> Also, thank you so much for over 100 hits!! I know that probably isn't anything to a lot of you, but I'm just surprised people even look at my work!


	7. A Hunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I opened up my email expecting updates on my subscriptions, but I got nice comments instead! Thank you so much, it’s definitely given me more motivation to keep working on this fic!
> 
> For this fic I had to do a bit of research on how homosexuality is received in Japan, because I want this fic to be a bit more authentic and thankfully live in a time and place where my friends and (most of my family) are supportive of who I am. 
> 
> After a bit of research, I found that quite a lot of Japanese people (especially younger generations, but older ones show this behaviour too) are either supportive, or would want those around them to be happy regardless of their sexuality. That’s pretty admirable. :)
> 
> Anyways, on with the chapter!

“Tadashi-kun? Hello?” Akiteru asked when the line fell silent. “Damn..” He put his phone back on his bed and sighed, before leaning back against the wall. His laptop caught his eye, but he decided his group project could wait, especially after what Tadashi had told him. 

“He had a crush on a boy, huh?” He said out loud to himself, looking up at the ceiling. “I suppose I should’ve seen this coming, he always did give Kei a.. Look.” Akiteru wasn’t blind. More than once he’d caught Tadashi giving Kei a soft, fond stare. He’d immediately presumed it was more of a ‘lifelong best friends’ thing, but clearly it held another meaning. In fact, he’d also caught Kei making the same look back at Tadashi while the smaller boy wasn’t looking. Of course, Akiteru’s bespeckled brother caught him looking a few times, but Akiteru always gave him a silent, encouraging and supportive smile. At least, he hoped that was the general message Kei got. After all, he just wanted his little bro to know he was there for him, through thick and thin.

“Hey. What do you think of gay people?” Akiteru recalled Kei nonchalantly asking out of the blue one day, as they played their own, more intense version of pepper behind the house. In that moment, Akiteru froze. He had never thought of them, in all honesty. As far as he was aware, nobody around him was anything apart from straight. 

Akiteru caught the ball for a moment, and stared off at some crows soaring in the distance in thought. As Kei kept his usual emotionless expression, his eyes were locked onto his brother. Akiteru felt a little intimidated by his little brother’s icy stare, but responded anyways. “Well gay people are still people, aren’t they? They should be treated the same way you’d treat anyone else, and it’s not like being gay is hurting anyone.” 

Akiteru served the ball to his brother, who received it, albeit with a little stumble. “To be honest with you, I don’t really get how being gay works. I don’t really think I am, and they don’t really teach us this stuff in school..” He got into position and set the ball to Kei, in a nice, high arc. “But I do think that staying true to oneself makes one happy.”

Kei spiked the ball, and Akiteru caught it as it ricocheted off the ground. “So gay people should stay true to themselves. They deserve to be happy too.”

Kei was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Why do you ask, anyways?” Akiteru prepared to serve the ball again, as his brother bent down with his arms wide apart, ready to receive it. Just as Akiteru taught him to do. The older of the two couldn’t help but feel proud.

“I saw a gay couple on the news.” Akiteru spiked a few meters away from him, and Kei stopped speaking to dive and get the ball up in the air. “They’re from Osaka, and they got to foster a kid together. Since nobody ever really talks about this kind of thing, I just thought I’d ask.” The older Tsukishima sibling did recall something like that popping up on the news, as he received the ball and sent it back to Kei. 

He also cringed a bit, thinking back on how their dad reacted with a scowl and tangent about how a ‘traditional family’ was meant to have a mom AND a dad, and that their foster kid would never be normal. Perhaps he didn’t think much of it at first, but he did recall Kei’s scrunched up expression as their mother tried to calm their father down and convince him to give those who chose to be gay a chance.

While Akiteru didn’t know much, he was at least sure that being gay surely wasn’t a choice. Life is already hard enough as it is, why would anyone choose to bring more trouble and struggles into theirs? He did appreciate his mother’s attempts, though, and their dad sat down with his arms crossed, wearing the same scowl. At least he had stopped ranting.

At that moment, Akiteru’s thoughts and speculation about his brother seemed to fall into place. He caught a particularly strong spike from his brother, which knocked a bit of wind out of him and gained him a strange, questioning look. When he finally regained his breath, he stood up straight and faced his brother. “Kei, are you gay?”

Kei seemed a little surprised that his brother had caught on so quickly. He looked right back up at his brother, unable to find the strength to run away or even tell a simple lie. Akiteru’s gaze bore right through him, and the logical part of his mind was telling him over and over that his brother was clearly supportive of gay people, so there was no reason to be afraid. However, the wild, irrational side of him rooted him to the ground, and kept the words from coming out.

After a silence that seemed to last forever for both of the brothers, Kei hesitantly nodded. “Y-Yes.”

The older sibling smiled, spinning the ball around in his hands. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell mum or dad. Not until you’re ready.”

“... Thanks, Akiteru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter! I really liked doing research on this topic and writing it, since it’s very close and personal to me! The story of the gay foster parents in Osaka is a real one, and I actually came across it while researching and looking through articles!
> 
> Just keep Aki’s message in mind: People are people, and everyone, regardless of sexuality or gender, should be allowed to stay true to themselves and be happy!


	8. Hesitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi stared at his mug of tea in disdain, and it stared right back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just remembered that poor Yams has to drink ginseng tea, I feel kind of bad now :(
> 
> I’m gonna start using chapter summaries a bit more, and oh my god my cat’s trying to stand on my keyboard-
> 
> Also! This chapter was originally separated into two different ones because I wrote them on mobile and have no sense of what a long/short chapter is on my teensy phone. (I have small hands- Well I’m just a small person in general) 
> 
> Before posting this, I also made sure to go in and add more details since I’m an impatient person and tend to just. Not write them in. I’m still learning~ (￣▽￣*)ゞ
> 
> The girl I like used a kaomoji once and it was really cute, I wish she’d use them more… I also headcanon Yamaguchi using them a LOT
> 
> Anyways, sorry for the long note and weird gay rambling???? Onto the chapter~

Tadashi stared at his mug of tea in disdain, and it stared right back at him.

Well, it couldn’t  _ literally  _ stare back, but it did have a cute little dinosaur cartoon. Normally, it would be comforting and harmless. After all, Tsukki had a matching mug in blue, and they mostly used their mugs for hot chocolate, or warm milk. Right now however, those beady little eyes were taunting him, daring Tadashi to take a sip of the vile liquid inside.

His mum walked into the kitchen and sighed, sitting across from her son at the table. “Tadashi, it’s been an hour.”

He gave her the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster. Maybe if he acted convincingly enough, his mum could save him from granny’s wrath and questionable home remedies.

Mrs. Yamaguchi almost gave in, too, seeing her son like that. She shook her head, gave her freckled cheeks a slap to snap herself out of it, and crossed her arms in an attempt to appear serious. “I’m sorry, Tadashi, but you need to drink your tea! Grandma’s orders.”

Tadashi sighed, giving up in his puppy-dog eyes. If he couldn’t even convince his mum, there was no way anyone else would give in. His dad would just laugh and give him a reassuring (and painful) slap on the back. His grandpa would do the same, albeit with more.. Force. And grandma… She got scary when she was angry.  What would he do if he couldn’t drink his tea? Would grandma make him sit here forever? Would he  _ die _ in this seat, forced to stare at that cute little dinosaur on the mug for all of eternity? 

“I’ll tell you what.” His mom got up and bent down by her son, putting an arm around his shoulder. “If you finish your tea, I’ll bring you out for ice cream.”

“Ice cream before dinner?” Tadashi’s face lit up, already feeling his worried melting away at the mention of dessert.

“Ice cream before dinner.” His mum gave him a cheeky grin, before putting a finger to her lips. “Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Tadashi nodded, returning the same grin his mother wore, before facing off his dinosaur muug with newfound determination. 

“Come on, you can do it.” Tadashi’s mum took his hands and placed them on the now lukewarm mug. “Three.. Two..”

And just like that, Tadashi downed the whole mug of tea in one go. It seemed alright at first, but after a second his face scrunched up as he tasted the awful, bitter aftertaste. His mom had to keep herself from giggling at the disgusted, yet adorable look on his face. Instead, she feigned a cough before ruffling his hair, somehow making it messier than it already was. 

“Come on, go upstairs and get changed. I’ll tell your grandma we’re going out stationery shopping.” She gave him a wink as she approached the stairs, which he returned with a bit of a grimace as the bitter taste of ginseng lingered.

With the awful bitterness finally out of his mouth after a rather large glass of water, Tadashi practically skipped up the stairs to his room to change out of his PJs and into a simple pair of shorts and a shirt. Before leaving, something caught his eye.  He gingerly picked up his phone from the bed, taking a look at the screen. It was slightly more cracked than before, but with a few swipes he could safely say that it still worked just fine. He let out a sigh of relief, and decided to text Tsukki to tell him he wouldn’t be at school tomorrow due to his.. Sickness. Part of him was relieved that his grandma decided to keep him from school as it gave him time to think about his little dilemma without, you know, facing it directly in every class  _ and _ volleyball practice before and after school.

Just as he opened up his texts, though, he noticed a chain of unread messages from an hour ago.

**Akiteru:** It’s okay to like boys.

**Akiteru:** I may not understand everything, and I definitely don’t have the experience with this kind of thing to give you solid advice, but know I’m here if you want to talk.

**Akiteru:** You’re still the same old Tadashi I met all those years ago, and nothing will change that.

Yamaguchi stared at his phone for a while, his mind racing. Was it really okay? Was Akiteru only telling him it was so he’d feel better? What if he told Tsukki?! He simply stood in his room, unmoving.

“Tadashi, let’s go before-” His mom stopped when she saw her son simply staring at the screen, clearly distressed. In fact, it looked like he was about to cry. Instead of asking any questions, she pried one of his hands off of his phone and held it, leading him down the stairs. She didn’t want to stress him out more, or make him uncomfortable, so she did all that she could at the moment - comfort him.

She sat him down in the car before sitting in the drivers’ seat next to him, and starting up the car. She even drove at a slower pace, to let Tadashi calm down. After a while, she soon caught him staring out of the window at the buildings passing by, a lot calmer than before. Putting on the softest voice she could muster without being muffled out by the car’s noise, she took a deep breath and decided to ask. “So.. Would you like to talk about what happened?”

For the past few minutes, Tadashi had been thinking of telling his mom everything. His crush on Tsukki, what Akiteru had told him, how he wasn’t really sick but couldn’t exactly tell grandma. He just wanted someone to confide in… And his mom was his best bet. She was the closest person to him in the family, and it’s not like she’d ever tell Tsukki… At least Tadashi hoped she wouldn’t. Just as he passed his school, he made up his mind. He’d tell his mom at the ice cream shop. That way, she wouldn’t freak out and crash the car or something, and there was a McDonalds nearby - In case he got disowned on the spot and had to act on his backup plan.

“Can I tell you when we’re there? I need a bit more time…” It wasn’t a complete lie. He had decided on when and where to tell her, but he still didn’t know what to say. As he thought of ways to tell her about all that had happened, he picked at his shorts, making a mess of the loose threads.

As they reached a stop light, his mom gave him a smile warm enough to all of his worries away on the spot. “Of course. Take all the time you need.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might’ve mentioned this before, but updates might be a bit slow as I’m moving in a few days and have a tournament to participate in, hope yall don’t mind~


End file.
